


I hate undercover work - but why?

by SassyCassie1401



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-05-06
Packaged: 2018-03-18 04:43:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3556463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassyCassie1401/pseuds/SassyCassie1401
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We all know that May hates undercover but Phil is in desperate need of her help. He is so desperate that he even enlists her mother to help but has anyone ever stop to ask why she hates it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lady_Jayde_Une](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Jayde_Une/gifts).



“May we need you to do this?” Phil was pleading with her, as she pummelled the stuffing out of the boxing bag. May knew that he was right but she was going to make him grovel beforehand that’s for sure. If she had to dress in that and fawn over some sleazy douche bag then she was going to make him suffer that’s for sure.

“Melinda, you know if I didn't need you to I wouldn't ask. You have the experience and can defend yourself without needing a partner by your side. We only have one shot at this and if they're alerted with even the slightest hint of Shield, they'll bolt and we will lose access to the technology from Hydra forever. Please Melinda.”

Melinda finished with a roundhouse kick to the boxing bag causing it to swing to the side and knock Phil into the wall at the side of him, he knew she was pissed but she hadn't even seen the outfit yet. He stood there and he thought of her in that outfit, then he knew he needed to get to his office before he did something embarrassing.

He always had a soft spot the size of the Grand Canyon for her and had loved her all his life but didn't think that she would ever feel the same way. He knew in this instance that her persuasive skills were the tipping and the fact that she was beautiful, especially to him, but if things went wrong he knew that she could defend herself.

Phil entered his office and saw the stunning red Christian Dior dress, he knew this was one she had her eyes on but had no reason to wear it so never bought it. She could keep it after and really treat herself to the night out that she always wanted.   
He grabbed it and returned to the gym where May was, she had just started her tai chi when he stood in front of her. She continued what she was doing, blatantly ignoring what he was doing or even the fact that he was there.

“Melinda please will you look at this and tell me what you think?” 

She opened her eyes and they widened at what she saw but she quickly schooled them. She made a particular hand gesture which gave him the indication that he needed to do something better than that to persuade. He knew for a fact that she hated undercover and that it must be something exceptional for her to get in that dress no matter how gorgeous it is.

“What aren't you telling me Phil?”

Phil's head shot up in shock, he hadn't told her anything about the undercover op and yet she knew that he was hiding something from her. He did want to tell her that her mother was involved cause even though they’d had a shocking relationship throughout the years, her mother was someone that May trusted implicitly and that for her was a commodity that she didn't have as often as the rest of the world. Phil knew that if he said something about her mother, she would find out more information that then CIA and FBI combined and with access to only half the resources. He left the dress and went back to his office.

He sat down at his desk and picked up the phone, “Did she go for it?” He barely heard the first ring before the sound of Mamma May was at the end of the line, curt and to the point as always. Phil knew that this was a risky idea but it was something you didn't say no to if she was involved, like her daughter she could be persuasive when she wanted to be.

“She is pissed. Are you sure about this? When she finds out at the end she is going to be so mad and I am the only one out of the two of us that will be bearing the brunt of it.” Phil sounded more and more nervous as the sentence progressed. He could tell that Mamma May would hear it but there was no point in hiding cause she could smell fear like a bloodhound.

“Are you scared of her?” Mamma may was smirking at other end of the line.

“Yes I am, I know for a fact that she hates undercover, why can we not just get a card and flowers and see if that smoothes her over and she may even agree to go undercover. What’s wrong with that?” 

“Because I know my daughter best, now are you going to listen to me or not? Has she returned the dress?” Mamma May asked.

Phil put the receiver down and started looking around the office but there was no red dress in sight, this made Phil partly relieved and partly scare. He was happy for the fact she had not returned the dress because that put odds on that she was doing the undercover op but he didn't know if she had shredded the dress or not.

He went back to desk and picked up the phone “No she hasn't returned the dress in any shape or form.” Phil looked pleased but worried.

“Good, that means she is going to do it, the rest Phil is up to you but please do not screw this up because I am not coming to find your body if this goes wrong.”

With that Mamma May put the phone down and left Phil to his own devices, he knew he needed the information but was it worth getting his ass kicked because May found out he would be in a world of trouble. In the middle of this undercover he was going to find a way of declaring his feelings as he didn't want to spend another valentines alone when the love of his life was staring him straight in the face. He loved her more than life itself and if he had to get his ass kicked to tell her then so be it, he pulled out his pad and started to set the wheels in motion to get the undercover op and his feelings in moving.


	2. You want to do what? Whose on that line?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will may be even less pleased when she finds out what her undercover is? who else knows about this hate or fear?

May was in her room thinking about the dress that Phil had shown her, she still had no idea what the mission was but she can bet that she wouldn't like it. That narrowed it down to three situations, one she would have to wear a dress or something slutty, two she would have to play the meek and mild woman (she was many things but that wasn't it) or three she was going into a situation not unlike Bahrain and this is what worried her most.

Why could the others not do it? She could teach Skye anything that she knows and ensure that she was fit for the job but something about Phil being so insistent was grabbing her attention and this is what she needed answering.

She got up off the bed and started walking to the office but her phone rang, the number was withheld which made her even more nervous than before. She picked it up and started to run to Skye’s office. She burst through the door and Skye shot up. May made the gesture for a phone tap so that she could get a hand on who was on the other end. It started off as breathing and May waited for a response but nothing happened, “Whose there?” and yet the phone remained silence and no result was coming from Skye. Suddenly the line went dead and the wave of silence engulfed the line but still Skye had not come with the result. 

May turned, “Skye trace my phone, look through everything and find out who the hell was on the other end of that line. You were the one who protected against hackers, viruses etc and the only person who had mine was meant to have it. Let me know what you find.” Skye just nodded knowing that something was different about this.

May was walking towards Phil’s office and yet she heard another voice, a woman was in the room and it was a woman whom she knew very well. The door swung open, “Mother.” Both bodies turned around and looked at her. “Melinda, glad that you can join us.”

If looks could've killed Phil knew that she would have incinerated his ass on the spot but then her stare turned to her mother. “Ok, Phil you have all of 10 seconds to tell me what the fuck is going or I am kicking you're ass. I…”

“You will do no such thing young lady or I will be kicking yours…” May levelled her eyes on her mother and even she knew not to argue with the matriarch, skills like Mays or not she was no match for her mother. 

“Phil you need to tell me what is going on…”

Phil held out 12 long stem black roses, he knew that they were her favourite and would at least lower the punch. “What are these for?” she had her eyebrow raised.

“Well errr that dress isn't the only thing that you're going to have to wear. Jemma has picked a lovely clothing range for you to wear over the weekend. We have to go undercover.” Phil trailed off looking like a scolded child.

“I told you before I am not going undercover. I HATE UNDERCOVER and you know that, I fight, I get the job done but I do not dress up or primp. JEMMA!!! You want me to dress in something that Jemma has picked? I care for her a lot and think she is super intelligent but you must have taken one too many hits to the head if you think I am going to wear anything that she has picked. Can you see pastel on me?”

Phil was looking and her and knew that he shouldn't, but for the life of him he could not wipe the smirk of that was running off his face. “Phil if my mother wasn't here…”

“Good job I am then isn't it? So what happened with the phone call?” May looked at her mother.

“How did you know?” 

“Skye told me. Yes I could've forced or coerced her into doing but she told me anyway so leave the girl alone.”

May would need to have serious words with Skye and teach her how to stand upto her mother although right now she was not doing such a good job herself. 

“Somebody has just called me, they didn't say anything just breathed down the phone and hung up one second before Skye would be able to trace the call. They knew the timescales and must have been good because with all the preventions and security measures that Skye put in place they should not have found the number. So someone knows something about this mission that I do not. When are you going to tell me.”

“Well we need to go undercover as a suburban couple and let’s just say the choice of clothing is not quite to your taste.” With this May’s eyebrows went up into her hairline and her hands clenched into fists, ready to launch.

Phil knew he was on borrowed time. “I need you to play an army wife but more specifically a very ditsy army wife to go and get information out of a General who we think is being paid by Hydra to send information to the top brass and letting Hydra prepare and get away.”

“So why can Jemma not do it. You want someone who can act that way and dress that way. Why me?” May was slowly going back to being pissed.

“Well we do not think that she is skilled enough to go against a General who has done over half a dozen tours, skilled in three types of martial arts and is as highly decorated as this one. Plus your mother said you would do it?” Phil finished the sentence really quickly and skulked out of the room like his backside was on fire, leaving a seething May in his wake.

“PHILIP COULSON, YOU KNOW I HATE UNDERCOVER YOU CHICKEN SHIT!”

She rounded and laid eyes on her.

“Mother what is going on? How do you know that someone had called me !!!”


	3. Mamma May, floral and the past.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma gives Melinda some questionable things to wear which only adds to the anxiety. Mamma may knows that something is wrong but she does not know what. Will Coulson be able to find out what is ailing Melinda May?

May looked at her mother and then to the sofa, where that god awful dress was lying across the settee. She could deal with tight, slutty or even short but for the love of all that was shield why did Jemma have to pick floral. “FLORAL !!!” that was all that could be heard in May’s mind at the moment, she was cursing both Jemma and Coulson for what they were going to put her through. She wasn't sure which was worse Bahrain or this but now she was neck deep in this and had not even done anything.

She turned to her mother who was eyeing her with amusement but also with an emotion that she could not quite place. “What?” she looked at her mother eyebrow raised, stone look in her eyes and her jaw set waiting for a response to the elephant in the room that no one was acknowledging.   
“Keep looking at me like that young lady and we will have a bigger problem than your ego. Now are we going to talk or are you going to spend the rest of the day scowling.” 

May relented knowing full well that she would not get any answers out of her mother this way as they were both as stubborn as each other. May also knew that even though her mother was retired she still had eyes and ears on the ground that could find out things far faster than shield or May ever could. “Shortly before I was coming up here, someone had pranked my Shield encrypted phone. Now since Skye did the encryption no one outside of the agency should have access to this. They didn't say anything but they listened with intensity and then put down the phone. I am waiting to hear from Skye about any information she has got. I am betting that it will be nothing because the call was too short but I want to know. Did you or Coulson know anything about this? Is it to do with this undercover ops?”

“Until we get further information I am not sure who was at the other end of the line but if he has anything to do with this we will soon find out. The general has a thing for beautiful women but also floral dresses and the first person that I thought of was you. He is obtaining information on inhumans and selling it to the highest bidder, slowly but surely they are disappearing off the radar right under shield and hydras nose. No one seems to know what they are doing with them but there are no signs that they are being forcibly taken.” May’s mother looked crestfallen but May wasn't sure why. She thought that this was going to be some practical joke but it seems there was a legit reason after all. Still no one had bothered to ask her about how she felt on the matter, they just assumed that she would do it.

“Where is Coulson?”

“Melinda, he is probably cowering behind Mike Peterson or something like that. One May he can handle but not the both of us and i am sure as hell thinking he is scared right now. You can be frightening when you're angry I don't know if anyone has told you that before.” Mama May had a glint in her eye and the sides of her mouth curled upwards in her version of a smile. She put her hand on May’s shoulder and looked into her eyes, “Melinda, why are you so against going undercover again. Was it Bahrain? Or something else? Please help me to understand and maybe i can help you somehow.”

“It’s something that I need to talk to Coulson about, he was there before, during and after it happened so its him that I need to understand that this will be the last time I go undercover for him. Then I go back to being a pilot or consultant, or whatever you feel like calling me okay?”

Mamma May knew when her daughters mind had been made up that there was nothing that she could do. She knew that her talent would be wasted with her sat in the cockpit but if that is where her daughter wanted to be, her mother would stand by her side and keep her happy.

Mamma May made a cup of tea and watched as her daughter left the office in search of Coulson. She did feel sorry for the man because he was going to get one hell of an ass chewing when she found him but if anyone could handle her it would be him. May sipped her tea and sat smiling at the image that had appeared in her mind.

May was on the war path searching for Coulson. She knew she would not find him in the Kitchen or with Skye as that would be obvious but where on earth would he hide if he wanted to avoid her. Then it hit her like a freight train, he had gone to the lab. He knew that when they science babies started talking like they do it goes over her head and gives her a headache. She stormed down there looking every bit the woman on a mission and hollered, “PHIL COULSON, GET YOU TIGHT WHITE BACKSIDE OUT HERE FOR A KICKING. YOU OWE ME!!!”

The doors opened with a swish and out armed behind a pad was Phil Coulson, Director of Shield cowering before Melinda May. If this was any other time she would find this funny and laugh her socks off at him but right now she was pissed at him and she was going to let him know that.

“Melinda please, don't hurt me but seriously I thought you would be the best for the job. I can get Jemma to change the clothing, that is not a problem but seriously I thought with your experience you would be the best.” 

“Phil, it’s time that we have a talk before I agree to do this mission. I need you to understand that after this one there will be no undercover okay. It brings back memories I don't want and is the reason I didn’t want to do this anymore but as usual you come along and I agree to practically anything.”

Phil Coulson took May to his office, her mother had disappeared but no one had ever seen her leave. He knew they were in for a deep conversation and alcohol will probably be needed.

May sat down ready to tell some secrets deeply hidden in her heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Lady_Jayde_Une for my prompt and mandylou67 for being my inspiration.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to my good friend Lady_Jayne_Une for the prompt and mandylou67 for being my inspiration and guide <3


End file.
